The Wrong Box – a 1966 British comedy film wildly and loosely adapting an already wild and loose Robert Louis Stevenson novel into an epic high-speed heist caper starring anyone who was everyone up and coming in cinema at the time alongside a couple of silver screen legends who had been around almost as long as the novel itself – is one of my absolute favourite movies and you can listen to me on Good Pod talking to Tyler Adams about exactly why this is here.

As well as chatting about my own background with The Wrong Box and why Christmas just isn’t Christmas without one of Michael Caine’s sixties movies on last thing at night in the week leading up to it, we also touch on the possible reasons why this one isn’t as well remembered as The Italian Job or Alfie, the peculiar career ascent of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, what it must have been like to watch one of The Beatles’ movies in a cinema at the time and whether John Barry was a not especially secret fan of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, the difficult question of what state Tony Hancock may or may not have been in while filming The Wrong Box, the bizarre career of comedy brass band The Temperance Seven. why George Martin And The Zombie People was never made, why you should never get a birthday card from Michael Caine and whether Jimi Hendrix raced straight out to Granny Takes A Trip after watching the movie, plus of course the main reason why The Wrong Box is under discussion in a show ostensibly about The Goon Show – Peter Sellers’ film-stealing cameo as Dr. Pratt.

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You can find much more about my love of early Michael Caine movies in Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a collection of columns and features with a personal twist. Can’t Help Thinking About Me is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. I’m sure Julia Finsbury would be appalled at the idea of foregoing tea, but even so.

Further Listening

You can hear me on Goon Pod chatting about Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren’s George Martin-produced comedy album – featuring a guest appearance by The Temperance Seven – Peter And Sophia here.

Samira Ahmed took a look back at Nanette Newman’s seventies children’s show The Fun Food Factory on Looks Unfamiliar here.

Further Reading

All That I Can See With My Mind’s Eye takes a look at the cultural shift that took place in 1966 – including The Wrong Box – and you can find it here.

© Tim Worthington.
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